Judge rules second teen charged in Lake Cyrus slaying to also be tried as adult

Ahmad Johnson will be tried as an adult in January's shooting death of Hoover resident Mike Gilotti, a judge said Wednesday.

Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Judge David Hobdy denied youthful offender status for the 17-year-old Johnson during a Wednesday hearing. The judge also set Johnson's trial date for March 27, 2017.

Johnson remains in the Jefferson County Jail on $1.35 million bond on the murder and breaking and entering vehicle charges.

Johnson's attorney Bret Gray pointed out Johnson's age and that Johnson has never been convicted of a felony although Johnson had been placed on probation with the Department of Youth Services in the past.

Hobdy on Tuesday had denied youthful offender status for 16-year-old Charleston Wells, one of the other three teens facing charges in the Gilotti case.

If a defendant is granted youthful offender status that means the case would not count as an adult conviction and documents in the case would not be public. A youthful offender also can't be sentenced to more than three years in a prison.

Unlike a felony conviction by an adult, treatment as a youthful offender also means the person does not give up certain rights, such as holding public office or voting.

Wells, Johnson, and Darrian Bryant, 16, of Bessemer, have been charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Gilotti, a husband, father and Iraq war veteran, in the early morning hours of Jan. 5 outside Gilloti's home in the Lake Cyrus neighborhood of Hoover. The teens allegedly were breaking into cars in the neighborhood when the shooting happened.

Jonathan Michael "Mike" Gilotti was shot to death on Jan. 5 at 4:55 a.m. on Park Side Circle, where police say there was a rash of overnight car break-ins.

Another teen, 19-year-old De'Ron Lucas, is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on other charges but prosecutors say they plan to formally charge him in Gilloti's slaying soon. Police obtained a murder warrant on Lucas but it has not not been served on him, according to the district attorney's office.

Bryant has previously pointed the finger at Wells as the shooter in the case.

Attempted murder charges were dismissed by another judge against Wells and Johnson at an April 7 hearing in a Jan. 4 shooting in Fultondale. But prosecutors could still take the charges in that case to a grand jury.